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172 shown himself thoroughly destitute of the talents of a general. The duke, though he was so nearly allied to the king, yet dreaded so justly his resentment, that he prudently remained at Calais till the fury of it abated, and it required all the address of the cardinal to restore him to Henry's good-will. The emperor had scarcely effected anything during this campaign, and thus allowed Francis more completely to baffle the invasion in the north. It was long before he could prevail on the Cortes to grant supplies for the payment of the German auxiliaries: the arrival of the troops was retarded by other difficulties, when the want of money had been obviated; and when they did come, it was so late in the season, that the Spanish lords refused to entangle themselves in the wild fastnesses of the Pyrenees, on the march towards Guienne, in the depth of winter. Charles could only compel them to follow him by the exertion of his authority, and they accomplished nothing but the reduction of Fontarabia.

The troops which Francis had sent into Italy under Bonivet had effected considerable service. Descending from Mount Cenis, Bonivet poured his army of French, Germans, and Swiss over all the north of Lombardy. Asti, Alexandria, and Novara fell into his hands. But he lost time in manœuvring by the river Ticino; and when he arrived before Milan, he found it put into so complete a state of defence by Prospero Colonna, that it resisted all his efforts to take it, either by storm or by the slower process of famine. The inhabitants, who had already experienced the tyranny of French conquerors, were enthusiastic in their maintenance of it; and in November the weather became so severe that Bonivet was compelled to retire into winter quarters at Rosate and Biagrasso.

On the 14th of September, whist Bonivet was investing Milan, and the Duke of Suffolk was advancing on Paris, an event occurred which arrested the attention of Cardinal Wolsey even more than the engrossing moves on the great chess-board of war. This was the death of the Pope Adrian. He had occupied the papal chair only about twenty months; and so impatient were the Italians of the Flemish pope and his strict economy, that they styled the doctor who attended him in his last sickness the saviour of his country. Wolsey lost no time in putting in his claim; and wrote to Dr. Clark, the English ambassador at Rome, telling him to spare neither money nor promises, for that it was by command of the king, who would undoubtedly see all his engagements performed. This time Wolsey was put in nomination, and obtained a considerable number of votes; but there was no real chance for him, for the Italians were clamorous to have no more altramontane, or, as they styled them, barbarian popes. Charles V., spite of all his promises to Wolsey, not only did not move a finger in his favour, but threw all his influence into the scale to carry the election of Giulio dei Medici; whilst the French cardinals, to a man, were opposed to Wolsey as the most dangerous enemy to their sovereign. The conclave met in October, and the discussion was continued through six stormy weeks. The election at length was seen to be betwixt Jacovaccio Romano and Giulio dei Medici. Cardinal Pompeo Colonna, who held the most decisive influence in the conclave, threw his weight into the scale for Romano, and the balance hung undecided; but all at once it gave way. Colonna, who hated the Medici, gave up his opposition, and Giulio dei Medici was unanimously elected. The causes of this sudden change were supposed to be entreaties from Prospero Colonna, who was in the interest of Charles V., and the offer to make Cardinal Pompeo Colonna vice-chancellor of the papal court—a most lucrative office, with the use of the superb palace of San Giorgio.

Wolsey, to all appearance, bore this second disappointment with the equanimity of a philosopher; yet we may justly imagine that it produced a deep change in his feelings towards the emperor, and led to a hostile policy against his interests and those of Queen Catherine, his aunt, in England. But Wolsey had prepared for either event, his election or rejection; and the moment the latter became certain, the whole of the influence of the English Government was employed in favour of the election of Giulio dei Medici. On the strength of this, the English ambassadors congratulated Giulio on his elevation, and solicited the continuance of the legative commission to Wolsey. The Pope, who assumed the name of Clement VII., not only renewed the commission, but granted it for life, with augmented powers; and added to it a commission to reform or suppress certain religious houses in England. This was a dangerous power, and as Wolsey, in 1525—only two years afterwards—by this authority suppressed a number of monasteries, it is by no means improbable that it led Henry to think of those more sweeping changes of the same kind which he afterwards effected. The money thus procured was devoted, notwithstanding the necessities of the state, to the erection of colleges, where both Wolsey and his master declared they were anxious to educate able men in order to oppose effectually the fast-growing heresies of Martin Luther.

The campaign in Italy opened in the spring of 1524, with wonderfully increased difficulties for the French. Charles V. had appointed the renegade Duke of Bourbon his generalissimo in that country against his own sovereign and compatriots. Henry of England engaged to furnish 100,000 crowns for the first month's pay of the duke's army, and to make a diversion by invading Picardy in July. The emperor promised to defray the cost of the Italian army for the remainder of the campaign, and to invade Languedoc at the same time. Thus supported, Bourbon took the field early in the spring; the genius of Bonivet paled before him, and by the end of May the duke had completely freed Italy of his countrymen, and driven them across the Alps. The losses of the French in this retreat were dreadful, and perhaps the greatest calamity was the death of the famous Chevalier Bayard, the knight "sans peur et sans reproche," who was killed as he was protecting the rear of the army, on the banks of the Sesia.

Bourbon, ardent and impatient to secure the kingdom, which had been promised him in France, as well as thirsting with desire to take the utmost vengeance on Francis I., entreated the emperor to allow him to quit Italy and enter France with his victorious army. The emperor consented, and the imperial forces soon found themselves descending from the Alps. Unfortunately, Charles had divided the command of this expedition betwixt Bourbon and the Marquis of Pescara, and the